


Unexpected Night Terrors

by Jinx72



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinx72/pseuds/Jinx72
Summary: Everyone who was chipped by Horde Prime has been having their fair share of nightmares. Mermista herself has been struggling. But she didn't really stop to think about the people who hadn't been chipped, and what state of mind they were in.Well, not until Sea Hawk wakes up screaming one night.
Relationships: Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 150





	Unexpected Night Terrors

**Author's Note:**

> im getting better at she-ra fic i think! but yea lol i had a Thought and i just want to see these 2 be soft and genuine w/ each other tbh
> 
> i asked my friend what sorts of nicknames would mermista use for sea hawk bc i couldn't think of any and they just told me 'insults.... but like endearingly' and honestly they right
> 
> edit: tried to fix formatting lmao im a mess

Mermista would have nightmares, some nights.

After being chipped, a lot of violent memories that weren’t always hers would flash under her eyelids and leave her bolting upright covered in sweat. She didn’t scream, though, she wasn’t that sort of person. 

She’d quietly brought it up with others who had been chipped, too, like Scorpia and Spinnerella and Catra, and they confirmed the whole nightmare thing, too. It turned out being forced into a hivemind, and then being forcefully and somewhat violently ejected from said hivemind wasn’t too good for your health.

So in some regards, Mermista had come to anticipate the nightmares. When they’d had a princess sleep over and Scorpia had started thrashing in her sleep, it wasn’t unexpected. When Mermista would bolt upright, wide-eyed and gasping for air, it wasn’t unexpected.  
But when she’d all but fallen out of bed at the sound of screams echoing through her own palace in the dead of night? Now _that_ was unexpected

Mermista had grabbed her trident from its place by her bedside and was bolting towards the sound, reaching out for the water in the pipes if need be, bleary with sleep but still ready for battle, and she didn’t even think twice about bursting into the room, about bursting into _Sea Hawk’s_ room, already in a battle-ready stance, drawing her trident up and squinting into the darkness.

“I’m here!” she called, vaguely unnecessary but no less true. “Back off Sea Hawk!”

The scream petered out, cut off by a sharp intake of breath, and there was scuffling noises that drew Mermista’s attention, and she snapped around, aiming her trident, to see…

_Sea Hawk?_

On the floor, shaking, tears running down his face, eyes wide and cloudy with terror, and instead of his face melting in relief like it did almost every time he looked at her, Sea Hawk’s face _fell,_ and he scooted backwards even more, until his back hit the wall and he had nowhere to go.

“…Sea Hawk?” Mermista called softly, letting the trident fall to her side as concern crept into her voice.

“Please,” he gasped out, covering his head with his hands and cowering. “Please _don’t.”_

“…Um?” Mermista shuffled forward hesitantly, and he _flinched_.

“Please,” he begged again. “I love you, Mermista, please don’t do this!”

“Sea Hawk, I’m…” Mermista frowned in confusion.

“You’re too strong for this!” Sea Hawk blurted, shrinking in on himself even more even as his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and he sat curled up and shivering on the cold floor. “He can’t control you, ‘Mista!”

 _Control you.  
_ _I love you, Mermista.  
_ All of a sudden, it struck Mermista where Sea Hawk thought they were right now.

She dropped the trident without a thought, and it clattered to the floor with a series of ill-timed metallic clangs that made her boyfriend cower away even more.

“Shit,” she cursed, and she shook out her hands as she tried not to panic, because panicking wouldn’t help Sea Hawk. “Sea Hawk, can you hear me? I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Sea Hawk seemed to still at that, but he didn’t uncurl.  
Mermista took a couple steps forward, and quickly knelt down a reasonable distance away.

“She-Ra killed Horde Prime, like, eight months ago,” Mermista said quietly. “I’m… I’m not chipped anymore, okay?”

“That’s what someone who’s chipped would say,” Sea Hawk mumbled into his arms, which, despite her better judgement, tugged a snort out of the mermaid princess.

“You wanna check I’m not lying?” she offered dryly, and Sea Hawk peeked up at her quietly, his eyes wide and liquidy.

“My eyes aren’t green,” Mermista pointed out.

“Spinnerella’s eyes weren’t green most of the time she was chipped,” Sea Hawk quietly pointed out, fear making his voice shake, and Mermista had to give him that one.

“Here,” she said, and she shuffled around so she had her back to him, and moved her hair out of the way so Sea Hawk could see the back of her neck.  
All that was left was a scar. It probably could’ve looked less messy, but they didn’t exactly remove the damn thing with surgical precision, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.  
She held her hair up and waited, waited with bated breath, because she didn’t really know what else to do. Was this enough?

She heard shuffling noises, and jumped as warm fingers brushed over the back of her neck, feeling nothing more than a scar.  
There was a sharp intake of breath.  
Then, arms looped around Mermista’s middle and pulled her in tight, and Mermista jolted as she felt Sea Hawk bury his face in her shoulder, and she could feel his tears soaking through her pyjama shirt.  
“Hey,” she said softly, so softly, in a voice saved only for Sea Hawk, “hey, c’mere.”

They shifted so that Mermista sat with her back against the side of the bed, and Sea Hawk curled up between her legs and let her wrap her arms around him, still shaking and crying but not nearly as badly as before. She pulled him in close, letting Sea Hawk rest his head on her chest, rubbing circles into his back.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled out eventually.

“For what?”

“For waking you up,” he looked away. “I… I didn’t realise I was screaming.”

“Hey,” Mermista chided lovingly. “You do _not_ need to apologise for nightmares, okay? You don’t let me apologise for mine.”

Sea Hawk snorted, but didn’t reply.

“I just, I didn’t _think,”_ Mermista continued, looking at the tiles beneath them and not at her shaking boyfriend. “It makes sense, y’know? That that would’ve fucked you up too. But I just didn’t think.”

“That’s okay,” Sea Hawk said, and it was so unnerving to hear him so quiet. “You went through more than I did.”

“it’s not a _competition,_ ” Mermista shot back. “You guys had to fight your friends, be on the run from your friends, and hide from your friends as we tried to kill you, for like, _months._ That’s more than enough to have gone through to be fucked up by it.”

“But you’re here now,” Sea Hawk cut in, his unerring positivity rearing its head, a wobbly smile tugging across his face. “And… and you won’t leave me?”

“Not tonight,” Mermista joked, but cringed as it didn’t quite land.  
As Sea Hawk kept a brave face up, she relinquished, leaning in to kiss his hair.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m never leaving you again, okay?”

Sea Hawk laughed a little, and it was far too bitter and self-deprecating for Mermista’s liking.

“I mean, if-” he started.

“Nuh uh,” Mermista immediately cut him off. “You fucking fought for my attention for this long. You don’t get to be all self-doubt about it now. I’m not going anywhere, alright?”

Sea Hawk’s tears had bubbled over again, this time disguised as laughter, and he took the moment to bury his face in Mermista’s shirt. He nodded, and Mermista could feel him smile more than see it.

They sat there, on the floor, for a while longer, but Sea Hawk had soon started to shiver again, but it didn’t seem to be from fear; just from the cold. Mermista scooped him up in her arms and stooped to her feet, groaning with the effort, and Sea Hawk squeaked and clung to her tightly as she lifted him up.

“You wanna try and sleep more?” she asked softly, toning down her usual dryness as Sea Hawk dragged up the collar of his sleep shirt to dry his face with.

He nodded quietly.

“Cool,” she smiled, and carried him to his bed and set Sea Hawk down gently, before tugging back the covers and plomping in beside him. “Is it okay if I stay? I wasn’t having good dreams either.”

Sea Hawk nodded again, seeming to be past words.  
Mermista laid down, and immediately, Sea Hawk burrowed into her side before she even had the chance to pull the blankets over them.

“You okay?” she asked softly, leaning down to press a kiss into his matted hair.

Sea Hawk paused, before shrugging.

“Mood,” Mermista agreed, settling back and letting Sea Hawk snuggle in and get comfy. “But I’m here, we’re okay, we’re safe, and we’re gonna get some sleep.”

Sea Hawk smiled. She could feel the upwards twitch of his moustache through her shirt.

“Love you, ‘Mista,” he mumbled, and a soft blush spread across Mermista’s face.

“Love you too, dumbass,” she hummed back, pressing another kiss into his hairline as his eyes closed, and it really didn’t take long for him to pass out again. Nor did it take Mermista long to follow suit, drifting off into one of the most solid nights of sleep she’d had in a very, _very_ long time.


End file.
